Falcons - Titans reactions from our staff, who watched the game and are now scarred

We have a problem with the Falcons, and you’re gonna hear about it.

How are they getting worse?

My unvarnished impression of the Falcons from Sunday is that they are bad. What I had a hard time believing, considering the stakes, is that they seemed much worse than they did against the Colts just a week prior. Playing at home and letting a mediocre Titans team run roughshod over them was a new low that I never would’ve expected this early in the season, especially not with the team urgently needing wins to stay alive in the NFC South.

Considering everything, that might have been the most disillusioning loss of the last two seasons. I don’t know what this team’s ceiling is, but increasingly their floor looks like it’s well underground. — Dave Choate

That felt like a deathblow

Week 1 was an understandable loss. The Falcons went on the road against a solid Minnesota Vikings team and came out flat. They bounced back to beat the Philadelphia Eagles at home. It was hard to get a good read on this team. Since then, they have been easily manhandled by two mediocre teams, both at home and on the road. At least with the Colts game, it was on the road and maybe Indianapolis was on their way up. The Colts then lost to the Raiders.

I’m not sure how else to explain it. Last week, the Falcons could have been in the playoff race. This week, it just feels like the season is over. Dan Quinn might get the players to bounce back. For a few games. It’s a worse version of 2018. Which makes it 2014 again. The Falcons look every bit a 4-win team. The playoffs were last week. Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff probably getting fired this week. I was that debilitating of a loss. Different from the others but still far too similar. The worst of all is watching the Falcons is a chore. There was nothing enjoyable about the Titans game. — Matt Chambers

This might not end well

It’s just not fun to think about this Atlanta Falcons team being one of the worst in the NFL, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves. As they are now, this team is a bottom feeder, with inconsistency and ineptitude plaguing all three phases of the game. Being dominated by such a streaky Titans team at home is absolute cause for concern, and it’s just beyond reason to imagine why such a talented team is getting knocked around so easily and is taking forever to get its head in the game.

Perhaps we overvalue the talent at hand. Perhaps the coaching is really just in a state of disorganized disarray. This team looks like it’s outmaneuvered every week and lacks the focus and discipline needed to be successful. I wrote a pretty strong defense for letting Dan Quinn have time to figure this out. I still think he deserves it. But if this is who his team is and will be, this might not go in the direction any of us hoped it would. — Cory Woodroof

There is no excuse for this team to be this bad

The Falcons failed on Sunday in every conceivable sense. They looked inept, confused, unprepared, and frankly unmotivated. I saw more signs of life from an angry crowd booing their own home team for sucking so hard than I did from the team itself. Is it coaching? Yes. But what about poor execution from the players? Also yes. So what’s the fix? Well, that’s the bad news. The coaching staff is obviously trying to correct these issues, and it’s just not working. That signifies that the only hope may be a new voice coming in to try to have an impact. But stock up on drinks and buckle up, because I don’t see the team making a coaching change until the bye at the earliest, and even if Blank pulls the trigger then I think they’d replace Dan Quinn with Dirk Koetter, who was calling straight up garbage plays yesterday. The talent on this team is being criminally mismanaged, and I cannot imagine any scenario where 2019 ends up being anything but a wasted season. It’s unacceptable. - Jeanna Thomas

This team looks broken and has no answers

It’s one thing to look lost and incompetent on the field, which the Falcons did with aplomb on Sunday. But when the coaches and players have no answers afterwards for what went wrong, you know things have gone completely sideways. We watched as player after player, coach after coach talked about how good things were in practice. Of all the things that came out Sunday, that should be the most concerning. They have no idea how they got walloped on Sunday by a Titans team that had no business scoring 24 points in the first half. If Dan Quinn is done in Atlanta, this will be a key reason why. When things began to unravel, he was completely out of answers. - David Walker

A true sense of reality

Over the past few weeks, reality has arrived. The Falcons’ outing against the Titans ended in a very disappointing 24-10 outcome that pretty much placed a bow on what I have began to believe for a little while now: The Falcons are not quite as talented as we think they may be. Since 2016, the Falcons overall perception was that the grouping as a whole was only a few minor tweaks away from hoisting a Lombardi trophy. It is hard to truly feel that after another lackluster performance against a team that is not amongst the league’s elite. Some of that is on coaching, yes. Some of that is on player execution. Some of that is also on the front office decision makers not evaluating personnel properly. The Falcons are now 1-3 and on the verge of having a catastrophic 2019 season. - Eric Robinson

Let’s All Remain Calm

So, the Falcons are bad. It’s not the end of the world. Sure, Matt Ryan has thrown more passes in the first four games than he ever has in the first four games of any season. Sure, we really have no run game. Sure, everyone else in the NFC South is somehow doing well considering their own list of issues. But that’s life. All we can do as fans of the team is enjoy whatever else you have going on in your life, and watch the Falcons breakdown on Sunday’s. It’ll be okay. – Evan Birchfield

I’m disgusted

I can’t tell you how excited I was for this season. That excitement and joy has been stripped from my heart just four games into the season, just like it was after four games last season. The Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans do not have as much talent as the Atlanta Falcons, yet they DOMINATED the Falcons these past two weeks. This team is getting severely out-coached every single week, and it’s disheartening. Dan Quinn and company will have wasted another precious year of Matt Ryan’s prime when all is said and done. If you think we’re in a bad spot now, then I suggest you buckle up — the Texans, Rams, and Seahawks comprise three of the next four opponents. Atlanta’s division chances could evaporate before facing a single divisional opponent this year. - Adnan Ikic